Council has £160k open spaces cash in North Devon

Money must be spent or paid back with interest

North Devon Council has banked more than £160,000 to spend on public open spaces in the district.

The unallocated 'section 106' contributions have been paid to the council by developers as part of planning obligations agreed in recent years.

Payments not spent within a set time period must be retuned to the developer with interest, although the council said there was 'no immediate danger' of cheques having to be returned.

At a scrutiny meeting on Thursday, the council's chief financial officer Jon Triggs said: "The last thing we want to be doing is repaying the money with interest."

Councillors were also told that no contributions had lapsed.

Some of the large contributions currently sitting in council coffers include £56,299 to be spent in Landkey; £26,320 for Barnstaple; £19,371 for Woolacombe; £19,371 for Shirwell; £24,836 for East Anstey; and £7,000 for Ilfracombe.

About North Devon Gazette

First published in 1856 as the Bideford Gazette, the North Devon Gazette is the free newspaper and website for the region, covering a vast area from Hartland in the west to Lynton in the east and to South Molton and Holsworthy in the south.